When Lisa clocks into work on Friday, she notices glass tupperware, holding leftover cookies from the night before. with a yellow post-it note stuck on the lid.

Put some milk in the breakroom fridge. - Jaehyun

“Lisa, do you know how to get into-” Sue stops by, reading the note over Lisa’s shoulder.

“What’s that about?”

“Oh.” Lisa folds the note it into her hands before tossing it under her desk, into the trash. “Just some cookies from Jaehyun… I guess.”

“And why is he giving you cookies?” Sue’s eyebrows rise.

“Niceties?” Lisa shrugs, clicking around her screen, attempting to look busy.

Sue stares at her before changing the subject.

“Do you know how to get into the seasonal records? The stupid program is showing me daily, weekly, yearly, but not quarterly.”

“Yeah, I can come show you in just a minute.”

Sue nods before walking back to her desk.

As she walks, Jaehyun’s coming from the opposite way and he gives a smile that isn’t returned.

Lisa quickly turns her head, focusing on her screen.

Why was it suddenly so awkward?

After eating a few cookies last night and doing absolutely nothing more, Lisa had calmly left to collapse at home in a fit of stupid smiling at things that had happened during the day. Wrapping her arms around herself, hugging into Jaehyun’s plaid shirt which had no business being so soft.

And then she woke up, snapped out of it, and arrived only to more moments that could possibly send her down a similar spiral of smiling at things that happened during the day like a crazy person.

“Hey.” Jaehyun smiles, scooting his chair up to his desk. “Good morning.”

His hair looks different. Still gelled but less neat. He’d given himself casual bangs, almost covering one eye. It’s strange how something casual could be an even better look.

It’s okay if Lisa admits he's handsome. This is an objective fact. Thinking he’s handsome has nothing to do with her, nothing personal. It’s just like finding flowers pretty and moving on.

Jaehyun glances at her desk, looking at the tupperware.

“Oh, I swear I wrote a note on that,” he searches around the rest of her desk but when he finds nothing he explains. “I brought some milk and put it in the breakroom fridge. If you want to have them as a snack.”

She can tell he’s biting back a smile.

She’s not dumb. Perhaps not as experienced as others, but she’s a person all the same and knows something as small as this could mean something bigger. That this is caring. Going to the store, buying milk, organizing cookies in tupperware. Tupperware his mom probably demanded be returned. Writing a note… biting back a smile.

“Thanks.” Lisa nods. “I’ll be back, Sue needs help with something.”

Lisa gets up and walks away, leaving him no other impression or hope.

She acts like that all day.

When Jaehyun wants to chat, she’s busy.

She moves the cookies from one side of the desk to the other. They keep getting in the way, until finally she just puts them in a desk drawer and makes a mental note to bring them home. Even if it would nice to have one at the time. They’ll just get crumbs everywhere. She can wait.

But then she needs his help with a report.

“Jaehyun, I’m checking this file and you left a comment on the 20th that shipping returns were ceased? But I thought the department was returning them due to faulty manufacturing?”

Jaehyun stares at his computer, thumb under his chin and pointer finger curved on his closed mouth. He tilts his head and she sees his jaw clench briefly.

“Jaehy-”

“I’m leaving early today,” he says, clocking out right at that moment. “Amanda should know the reason why. You can talk to her.”

He grabs his jacket from the back of his chair, not bothering to stand still to put it on and leaves in a hurry that makes Lisa want to ask if its an emergency but if it is, why would he have time to explain and why should he explain to her?

It’s not any of her concern.

But she still feels a flash of hurt. Experiencing the serious side of him all of a sudden feels like being dropped in cold water.

She sits there in silence, eyes on the back of his computer monitor.

“He made you cookies, huh?” Amanda smirks.

Lisa doesn’t know how much she’s seen or heard of what just happened. She just wants to go home.

“You want some?” she asks and it comes out less like a polite offering, more like cramming anything in Amanda’s mouth to get her to shut up.

If Amanda and Sue didn’t act so strange about her and Jaehyun, maybe she wouldn’t feel strange about her and Jaehyun either because there was nothing strange about it. Just two co-workers getting along and doing their assignments. Just two co-workers working to pay for rent. Or, well, in her case, rent. In his case, maybe school loans. Who knows, who cares, not her concern!

“Sure,” Amanda says.

Lisa blinks and lies, something she never does.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot, I don’t have any left,” she gets up to go on her break.

She’ll get someone to answer her question later, someone that doesn’t look at her so accusingly.